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Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-2905

February 9, 2000

Lincoln Legal Papers DVD Edition Is Presented to
the Library

Demonstration of DVD and "Mr. Lincoln's Virtual
Library" to Be Part of Program

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency will
present to the Library the "Lincoln Legal Papers
DVD Edition," a collection of more than 100,000
records associated with Abraham Lincoln's legal
career from 1836 to 1861. The DVD will
complement the Lincoln materials in the Library
of Congress, many of which are available on-line
in a Web presentation called
"Mr. Lincoln's
Virtual Library."

The event will take place Friday, Feb. 11, at 11
a.m. in the National Digital Library Learning
Center, which is in the first-floor atrium of
the Library's Madison Building, 101 Independence
Ave. S.E.

The event will be hosted by James H. Billington,
Librarian of Congress. "We are grateful to the
Illinois Preservation Society for this gift that
will make our Lincoln collections even
stronger," he said. "We are also appreciative of
the generosity of Donald G. Jones, Terri L.
Jones and the Jones Family Foundation," whose
gift supports "Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library."

Following Dr. Billington will be remarks by
Thomas F. Schwartz, State Historian of Illinois.
Daniel Stowell, Director of Lincoln Legal Papers
on DVD, will demonstrate the DVD, and Mrs. Lura
Lynn Ryan, First Lady of Illinois, will present
the DVD as a gift to the Library.

Lincoln documents and other materials, many of
which are on-line, will be on display prior to
the event. Also on hand will be John Sellers, a
historian from the Library's Manuscript
Division.

There will also be a demonstration of "Mr.
Lincoln's Virtual Library," which is a part of
the on-line historical collections called
American Memory.

American Memory is a project of the National
Digital Library Program of the Library of
Congress, which aims to make freely available
more than 5 million items, in collaboration with
other institutions. Currently, more than 70
collections are on-line.